'Not good enough': CNN's Jake Tapper unloads on Trump officials over slew of arrests

The Trump administration’s justification for its arrests of academic scholars as part of the president’s nationwide crackdown on migrants was subjected to a thorough rebuke from CNN’s Jake Tapper, who tore into the White House’s lack of evidence for the moves.

Tapper on Monday devoted a segment on his show “The Lead With Jake Tapper” to deliver a brutal takedown of a State Department response on Monday that blamed the individuals’ “problematic behavior” for their immigration-related arrests.

“If there is evidence of any of these individuals engaging in lawbreaking or harassing other students, or antisemitism, or pro-Hamas sentiments expressed – specific evidence to these individuals – by all means, we welcome the Trump administration sharing it,” Tapper said. “But this idea of ‘trust me, they've behaved problematically’ is not good enough from this government, it's not good enough from any government.”

The CNN host told viewers about the arrests of Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow, as well as Tufts University grad student Rumeysa Ozturk, whose detainment by masked Department of Homeland Security agents last week sparked nationwide protests.

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Tapper said it has not been easy for him to get information from the administration about either case.

“So what is the problematic behavior exhibited by any of these students? The State Department would give us no details.”

He then delivered a direct message to Trump officials.

“Again, to [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] or [Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem] or anybody at the White House, if there's evidence, come on the show, present it, email me, text me, present it. Priscilla [Alvarez] is on the case, show us this evidence,” he said, introducing the CNN correspondent. “But it's not just good enough to talk about problematic behavior. What behavior? Who? What? When?”

He added: “All we know is that these people were involved in protest movements, but we don't know of any disturbing behavior. There has just been no evidence presented.”

Watch the clip below or at this link.